"If you had told me six months ago, that we're going to get Darlington Nagbe, I would've snapped your hand off," Spencer said by telephone from Baltimore, site of the MLS SuperDraft. "We're absolutely delighted that we've managed to get someone who could be a tremendous player for us for a number of years."

The opening appeared after Vancouver, with the first overall pick, stunned nearly everyone by selecting Omar Salgado. Salgado was seen as a high first-round pick, but no one expected the Whitecaps to make the 17-year-old forward the first overall pick of the draft. Many observers expected the Whitecaps to select Akron defender Perry Kitchen, but Kitchen "fell" to D.C. United at number three.

"Everybody sees the game differently," was all Spencer would say.

The Whitecaps' decision made the Timbers' choice much easier. The Timbers -- along with every other MLS decision-maker -- had Nagbe as their top-rated draft prospect.

"To be fair, it doesn't take a soccer genius to watch (Nagbe) and see what kind of player he is," Spencer said.

Nagbe, a junior from national champion Akron, scored seven goals and had 13 assists in 2010. He's another one of the versatile players the Timbers are constantly adding to their roster.

"John has to look and decide what his attributes are and where he will benefit the team and use him accordingly," said Gavin Wilkinson, Timbers technical director. "I think he has the ability and athleticism to play wide, in the middle or play up front. It's a matter of what will benefit us and what will get us points."

The Timbers also used their second-round pick (22nd overall) to select defender Chris Taylor from Tulsa. The 6-foot-1, 160-pound Taylor scored one goal and four assist and was a third-team all USA Conference selection in 2010. Spencer and Wilkinson said they liked his progress at left fullback during the combine.

"He played a comfortable pace, he took great care of the ball and his distribution was very good," Wilkinson said. "He had that attributes at the position that we need. He looked to get forward and he recovered quickly. And his delivery into the box was fantastic."